1971 KGC10 Skyline, finishing it all up.

Last time we left on the Skyline I had just finished a monster of a rust repair on the A-pillar. I’m very pleased to say that we now officially have a windsheild back in the car, woo hoo!

Now all I needed to do was re-install the interior but before I could do that, I decided it would be a good idea to track down a few remaining electrical gremlins related to the windshield wiper motor while the dash was out so this was the scene in the shop for a few days while I dissected and translated Japanese wiring diagrams.

I must say I’ve never been so excited to see windshield wipers work in my entire life I was also able to track down my brake light issue that decided to rear it’s ugly head at the most inconvenient time possible during our last video shoot with Josh Clason. (HERE if you haven’t seen it) Yep, that shot @ 4:15 will annoy me every time I watch it. Unfortunately it wasn’t a simple bulb fix but rather a short in one of the wires due to my arch nemesis, cheap plastic wire taps, go figure.

With the electrical stuff out of the way it was time to tackle the interior. One thing that has always bothered me about this car was the huge double-din CD/mini-disc (remember those?) that was haphazardly installed in the center console.

They ended up cutting a huge hole to make it fit which made the center consle look pretty awful with it removed. A quick call to Japan and ZING!

Well, maybe not exactly like that but you get the idea. Here’s a side by side shot so you can see the gaping hole I was talking about.

Remeber those A-pillars? This is what the vinyl looked like after I pulled it off so there’s no way those were going back on.

A short trip down to see my upholstery guy and good as new.

I also had him install some new carpet in this car while we were at it because it only came with floor mats. For some reason these cars rarely ever have carpet in them when they get here, it’s probably best to replace it anyways

I installed the original floormats back in to keep it nice.

I also decided to install these cool buttons that will help keep everything in place as the carpet kit is designed sort of like a bunch of separate floormats just like the original carpet was.

The kick panels also looked pretty bad so I decided to make some replacements for those as well. The first step is to make a pattern for both sides and cut it out of fiberboard.

I then covered them in the same vinyl used on the A-pillars, this is what it looks like on the back side when you’re done and it’s not quite as easy as it might look.

Next to the old ones…. a little better right?

And here’s how they look in the car.

Everything is now back in place and looking better than ever.

In between all this madness we also sent out the suspension to ground control for a coil-over/ Koni shock conversion up front.

The rears weren’t height adjustable so I made a call to Hakosuka specialist RS-Start in Japan for some of their adjustable rear perches.

This makes for a VERY nice setup I must say. We’re almost done but there was one more thing that always bothered me about the exterior of this car. There is a trim connector piece that was missing that the previous owner in Japan had just simply metal taped together.

Yea…. not cool. After hoping to find something similar at a junkyard or chrome shop and coming up empty handed I finally decided that I would just make my own. It starts with a proper gauge strip of stainless steel, (some peole think these are chrome but they’re actually polished SS)

And I made another metal form to shape it around based off of the existing connector on that was on the other side of the car.

After a couple of attempts with varying results I finally ended up making one that I was finally happy with. This is a very difficult part to make because of how small and precise the bends are on each end. Here’s the one I made next to the original for comparison.

And after a bit more polishing here’s how it looks on the car. It’s a little detail, but it makes a big difference.

And that’s about it, all that’s left to do now is a little wheel fitment testing of the Hayashi’s that were from our new Silver KGC10 for the customer so he can figure out proper sizing before he orders his new wheels.

Next time I post this car it should be getting all loaded up on the trailer to meet it’s new owner. It’s been a long journey but I’m very pleased with the way this one turned out, and I hope the new owner will be too.

I believe it’s an option they’ve had for a while now but they do not advertise, you may want to contact them for further information.

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Our top line service is a full restoration of either the JDM Legend you already own, or the one you've longed to own. Restorations can range from full concourse style for those extremely rare and original vehicles, to the more common “resto-mod” style where we update the mechanical aspects of the vehicle to give you a more modern powertrain, comfort and safety while still maintaining that classic look.